[: 3rd POV :]

The Human Continent was in turmoil, but not of fear.

For the first time in centuries, the whispers that spread across cities, villages, and kingdoms carried hope.

It began quietly, like the first flake of snow before a blizzard.

A handful of survivors appeared at the edges of cities, trembling, yet alive.

They spoke of a savior, a boy not older than twenty, cloaked in darkness, whose very presence seemed divine.

At first, people dismissed it as delusion.

Trauma, perhaps.

A desperate illusion conjured by those who had suffered too long.

But then it kept happening.

Day after day, more groups began appearing, hundreds, then thousands, each with the same story.

"A boy... he came from nowhere," one woman wept before the city guards, her voice hoarse with disbelief.

"The sky tore apart, and then... nothing. The monsters vanished. The men in black masks...gone. He said nothing, but I could feel it... that he wasn’t human"

Rumors became wildfire.

By the time the second week passed, every tavern, every guild, every noble hall in the Human Continent buzzed with the same name.

"Daniel"

Some called him the Shadow Saint, others the Abyssal Savior.

But to the ones who saw him, those who looked into his eyes before he vanished in a ripple of void, he was something beyond their words.

Mercy wrapped in annihilation.

Salvation delivered through ruin.

Riven, one of the Pillars of the Black Vow, stood before the massive northern gate of Velaria Nexus, one of the city in the Human Continent.

The once-proud warrior who had fought through wars and gate now stood dumbfounded, his armor faintly reflecting the glow of mana lanterns surrounding the gate.

Another group had just been found, thirty-two survivors this time.

Most bore scars, both visible and deep, yet they shared one thing.

There was a strange essence glowing faintly on their skin, proof that high-level spatial skill had been used to transport them.

"How many is this now?"

Riven asked, rubbing his temples as the healers rushed past.

The nearby officer checked his logbook nervously.

"Seventh group today, sir. That makes... over two hundred in the last three days."

Riven exhaled sharply, his breath visible in the cool night air.

"This can’t be real... Two weeks ago, I thought it was a miracle that the boy saved that dragon child, Erina. But this..."

His gaze shifted toward the horizon, where the faint aurora of mana flickered above the mountains, the mark of another destroyed facility.

"This isn’t a coincidence anymore," he muttered.

Each group told the same story.

A young man, with silvery white hair and violet eyes, appearing from thin air.

No army, no allies.

Just him.

He would look upon them, wordless, before vanishing with a wave of his hand.

And then the facility would crumble, disintegrated, erased from existence as though reality itself had rejected it.

The survivors always awoke somewhere safe, outside the gates, at the edge of towns, or within the protective barrier of Velaria Nexus itself.

Every healer confirmed it.

Every witness swore by it.

Riven watched as the survivors were led into the city, some crying, some muttering prayers to gods who had never answered before.

The whispers around him grew louder.

"They say he’s the incarnation of a Hero."

"No, I heard he’s the lost son of a god."

"Are you fools? He’s a reaper in human flesh! The Zero Organization’s entire bases have been wiped out without a trace."

Riven frowned.

None of them were entirely wrong, but none of them were right either.

Although he had never seen what Daniel could do back, but he knew from just a glance that Daniel was far beyond than just being ’strong’.

The sheer control, the calm that bordered on apathy, the power that made even the strongest warriors bow without knowing why.

If anything else, Daniel was the absolute definition of ’power’ itself.

He clenched his gauntleted fist.

"Victor needs to know about this."

Far to the west, in the towering spire of Silent Night Headquarters, Victor, the captain himself, sat in his dimly lit office.

The walls were lined with magical reports, paper glowing faintly as runes recorded every anomaly occurring in the continent.

He had already noticed it.

The constant disappearance of Zero Organization bases.

The sudden appearance of survivors.

The growing fluctuations in void energy signatures detected across the continent.

But when Riven entered, his expression was more severe than usual.

"Captain," Riven said immediately, saluting. "We have a situation. A serious one."

Victor didn’t look up. "If it’s about the rescued victims again, I’m already aware."

"You don’t understand," Riven said, stepping forward, his tone heavy. "It’s him. The boy. The same one saved the dragon child. It’s Daniel."

The moment Victor heard the name, Daniel, his entire demeanor shattered.

His pen snapped between his fingers, ink spilling across the desk.

The runes etched along the walls flickered in response to the sudden surge of mana that rippled through the room.

For the first time in years, the composed and cold Captain of Silent Night looked genuinely shaken.

"What did you just say!?"

Victor’s voice boomed across the chamber, laced with disbelief and panic.

"Say that name again, Riven! The boy’s name, his description, everything!"

Riven instinctively straightened his posture, stunned by his superior’s sudden outburst.

"I–I said his name’s Daniel. The survivors all said the same thing. He’s young, looks no older than twenty. Silvery white hair, eyes glowing violet—"

"Violet!?" Victor cut in, rising so abruptly that his chair crashed backward.

His breathing grew shallow, his heart pounding as if he’d just seen a ghost.

"You’re certain about this, Riven!? Absolutely certain!?"

Riven blinked, taken aback by Victor’s tone.

"Yes, sir! The survivors described him the same way every time! The boy with the silver hair and violet eyes!"

"They said he appeared out of nowhere, saved them, and erased the entire Zero base without leaving anything behind."

Victor pressed a trembling hand to his forehead, pacing rapidly. His boots echoed across the marble floor, each step heavier than the last.

"It can’t be... it shouldn’t be possible..." he muttered. "Sixteen years... sixteen long years..."

Riven frowned, his confusion mounting. "Captain, what’s wrong? Why are you—"

Victor suddenly looked up, his eyes sharp but filled with an emotion Riven had never seen before — fear.

"We have to report this. Now."

"Report?" Riven echoed. "To who?"

Victor’s tone hardened.

"To Her Majesty. To *Empress Melaria Valenhardt"

Riven froze, stunned silent.

"T–The Empress!? Why her, of all people? Sir, what does this boy have to do with—"

Victor’s voice lowered, trembling with a gravity that silenced the room.

"Riven... do you remember the incident sixteen years ago?"

The question hit Riven like a physical blow.

His mind immediately went back to that night of chaos, the storm that split the skies, the screams that echoed through the Imperial Palace, and the dark veil of silence that fell over the entire empire afterward.

The event every soldier was forbidden to speak of.

"Yes..." Riven said slowly, his throat dry.

"The Night of Oblivion... when the palace was attacked by something even the Empress herself couldn’t completely explain. The day she lost her child."

Victor nodded grimly, his jaw tightening.

"It’s not just a rumor, Riven. I was there when it happened. The royal bloodline nearly ended that night."

"But..." Riven’s brows furrowed deeply. "Are you saying that this boy—"

Victor slammed his palm onto the desk.

"That’s right and it’s certain"

"Few years ago, it has been confirmed that her majesty’s son is still alive and you remembered the incident where all of the Rulers tried to break barrier of the Forbidden Continent?"

"It was confirmed that he was inside that Forbidden Continent, but a few years later, we don’t know why or how the Continent’s barrier had suddenly shattered"

"The Empress and the Rulers tried searching for him in the Forbidden Continent, but there were no results"

"Even till this day, the Empress had been searching for her son, and the only information we had from the Elf Empress, Prince Kiel, Princess Rika and Demon Lord Manork was his name and his appearance"

"And it’s exactly the same as you had described"

The silence that followed was suffocating. Riven stared at him, wide-eyed, unable to process what he’d just heard.

Riven’s heart began to race.

"That... that can’t be..."

"Think, Riven!"

Victor snapped, his frustration bleeding through.

"You’ve seen the survivors yourself. You’ve heard the reports. No one in the entire Human Continent possesses that kind of power"

"If it is not the son of the Empress then who else can it be?"

Victor turned toward the large crystal screen that projected recent mana detections across the continent.

The map shimmered with faint ripples of void energy, each marking a destroyed facility.

"Each time he moves, the readings spike beyond measurable limits," Victor said, pointing at the screen.

"And look at the pattern, north to east, east to west. It’s methodical, calculated"

"This isn’t random justice. This is vengeance"

Riven swallowed hard.

"If... if what you’re saying is true, then..."

"Then the Empress’s son has returned,"

Victor finished softly, his voice trembling with awe and dread.

A heavy silence filled the room once more.

The air was thick with disbelief, fear, and a faint glimmer of hope.

Riven took a deep breath, his voice unsteady.

"Do you... do you really think the Empress knows?"

Victor shook his head.

"No And Yes"

"She’s aware that her son is still alive, but she’s not aware of this information"

"And that’s exactly why we must tell her."

"Or else, you and I are in deep trouble"

Riven just remained silent.

Riven’s expression softened, a rare emotion flickering across the war hero’s face, sorrow.

"Sixteen years of grief..." he murmured.

"Sixteen years of mourning... and he’s been out there all this time...and alone"

Victor turned sharply toward him.

"Prepare the transmission to the Imperial Palace. I’ll handle the report personally. And Riven..."

"Yes, Captain?"

Victor’s gaze darkened.

"Not a word of this leaves this room. Not to the guilds, not to the nobles, not to anyone"

"The world isn’t ready to know who he is"

"If word gets out that the Empress’s son is alive and that he’s the one wiping out the Zero Organization, the continent will plunge into chaos."

Riven nodded firmly, the gravity of the situation sinking in.

"Understood, Captain."

Victor’s hand hovered over the communication crystal, hesitating for just a moment before he activated it.

"Let’s pray," he whispered, "that Her Majesty won’t be in fury that we will be reporting this information quite late..."

As the mana light from the crystal illuminated the room, both men stood in silence.

For the first time in a long while, the air carried something neither fear nor despair, but the trembling weight of destiny returning to the world.

And far away, somewhere beyond the horizon, a silver-haired figure moved silently through the void, oblivious to the storm his name was about to awaken.